


it won't be long now

by DefineNormal



Series: all the small things [1]
Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: 1 chapter per episode, 100 word drabbles, F/M, Gen, character studies don't need plot, have you seen a plot?, i don't know what you're talking about, just doing stuff, little glimpses, this is a phyrne fisher character study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24067336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefineNormal/pseuds/DefineNormal
Summary: One 100 word chapter for every episode, with the screencap that inspired the piece.
Relationships: Phryne Fisher & Elizabeth MacMillan, Phryne Fisher & Jack Robinson, Phryne Fisher & Jane Ross, Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson, Phryne Fisher/Lin Chung
Series: all the small things [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1747324
Comments: 54
Kudos: 93





	1. the end of all things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cocaine Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is. My little pet project - 100 word drabbles for every episode, posted with the image that inspired them. I challenged myself to work with less common moments but I have my weaknesses. :) Every chapter title is a bit of a line from the episode featured and everything is going to be from Phryne's POV. May occasionally go off script with my own personal head-canons. l
> 
> Onward.

There is a place in her chest that is both a void and a knot. A sliver of ice. A vein of fire. 

To all but the most discerning, she appears carefree and careless, wild, wicked and temptingly dangerous.

A headstrong socialite with charm for days and money to burn. 

And yet.

The metallic drag of iron bars, the oppressive stench of capture and defeat.

She’s come to end him or maybe just die trying.

“Whatever horrors you visited on her, I have imagined tenfold. And given the chance I would do the same to you without smearing my lipstick.”

  
  



	2. nothing that matters is easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murder on the Ballarat Train

_ Of course _ her name is Jane.

Twin plaits the color of sunlight, wide eyes full of mischief but shadowed by a sadness more grown than the girl herself. Jane trembles with distrust, filled to the brim. The rise of fear in her voice tremors over scars inflicted by those who should have known better.

She’s not  _ her _ Jane but it doesn’t matter. Not in the end.

An aunt, a hypnotist, the pistol in her hand. The past is immutable, the future yet unwritten.

A second chance.

“I’ve had a word to welfare. They’ve agreed to let you foster Jane.”

_ Good _ . 


	3. steady and...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Green Mill Murder

She cannot help herself. She vamps for the camera, the giddy grin on Collins’ face its own reward. Her back is to him, but she can almost hear Jack’s disapproval and (she assumes) suppressed amusement.

“I haven’t taken anything seriously since 1918.”

It’s not altogether untrue but neither is it unvarnished reality.

She simply chooses (not simply, but a choice nonetheless) to leave old wounds far behind. 

Nothing in the world ever could or would be so serious as to eclipse the chance of light for her again.

Most certainly not an arrest by the inscrutably delicious Detective Inspector Robinson.

  
  



	4. define found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death at Victoria Dock

“Define  _ found _ for me.”

There might be, in the far recesses of her mind where she puts things she’d rather not immediately address, a sense of irony in the arch of her brow. 

Jane is singularly unabashed describing how she  _ found _ Lila's diary. Phryne wonders if it’s possible to have biological offspring without the actual biology. Jane is definitely her daughter in all the best ways. 

Jane makes as if to snag the diary but Phryne is quicker. She fixes the young girl with a hard eye and pursed lips.

“Thank you,” she adds. She’s a role model, after all.

  
  



	5. a man of honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raisins & Almonds

She is becoming alarmingly... _ aware _ of Jack Robinson.

The subtle flush along his neck when she unthinkingly produces a knife. The unmistakable sway of his body towards her when they are in low, close conference.

The exasperation that barely masks his amusement at her antics...and his frustration that those antics provide results.

He is uncharacteristically chatty in his office. He offers the slightest revelation of the man behind the badge; a mild and safe vulnerability.

“But a marriage is still a marriage, Miss Fisher.”

The message, delivered from his closing throat, is received.

“Especially to a man of honor.”

  
  



	6. a talent for the dramatic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruddy Gore

“No, no. I’m questioning your taste in men.”

The barb hits its intended target with unerring accuracy and she just avoids flinching. Phryne has heard worse in her lifetime -  _ you are fox spirit _ \- but it’s rare that such words should slip under her defenses so easily.

It is her reaction, sudden heat and... _ embarrassment? _ ...that drives her to respond coldly in retreat. 

She will not question why, exactly, his slight wounds her so. She will not question when his opinion of her began to matter quite so much.

She will, however, shake the feeling that she has disappointed him somehow. 

  
  



	7. i'm not afraid of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murder in Montparnasse

Her eyes are hot with angry tears.

She is only tangentially aware of Jack’s gaze, the silent desperation of both his nearness and his distance.

She shifts her grip on the gun, aims carefully.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

Not anymore. Not for a long time. Not while there is breath left in my body.  _ My _ body.

Years ago he’d taken something from her. Taken something precious she didn’t understand she possessed until it was gone.

She belongs to no one but herself. She owes nothing to anyone but herself.

_ Everything _ is her choice. Even the decision to spare him.

  
  



	8. to any man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Away with the Fairies

She does not regret her choices. She does, however, deplore causing pain.

Lin may believe he loves her. He may even do, in his own way.

For Phryne, commitment isn’t simply a promise. It is to reveal the war-torn defenses that she has spent a great deal of time, energy and money to conceal. It is to entrust her wounds wholly to another person with absolute faith they won’t come to harm.

Lin Chung means well. He’s beautiful, lively, gentle and generous. 

If he is her last chance at real love, so be it. She does not regret her choices.

  
  



	9. you're safe now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Queen of the Flowers

Jane. Jane.  _ JaneJaneJaneJaneJane. _

There is such a loud rushing in her ears that Phryne almost misses the thin scream for help. Almost. Her heart lurches in agony. Not again. Not  _ Jane _ .

JaneJaneJane.

The door splinters and she is dragging Janey - Jane - her ward - her  _ daughter _ \- through the window into safety.

She draws her hands over Jane’s messy plaits, thumbs brushing at her tears, grounding them both in the face of their shared terror. Hours of anguish crash over them at once.

Jane sobs incoherently, apologetic and afraid. 

“You’re safe,” Phryne can only murmur, drawing the trembling girl into her arms.

  
  



	10. things that don't need to be said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death by Miss Adventure

They’ve known each other forever. _Too long_ , Mac says, as if there is such a thing.

In the damp cell, her defenses lowered, Mac is less the self-contained doctor and more the scruffy, flame-haired 10 year old she remembers. She’d been “Mac” even then, detesting Elizabeth and, even worse, Lizzie. She whalloped more than a few boys for taunting her and with every beating she gave or took, _Mac_ stuck even harder.

Now her proud shoulders slump, her grief an unbearable weight.

Mac loved few and lost many but she’d take it on the chin and carry on. _As always_.

  
  



	11. just a child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood and Circuses

Mac wasted years of breath only to be met with Phryne’s stoic acceptance of her role.

_ You were just a child _ , they say.  _ You couldn’t have known _ .

Perhaps it was true. Perhaps a little girl couldn’t be saddled with the responsibility of guarding against a murderer.

But neither mother nor father could be bothered to accept that liability. So it had been Phryne who acquired it.

Fair, unfair… it ceased to matter long ago.

She is no longer a child. Janey is gone. And it’s all her fault.

  
  



	12. a single pillar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murder in the Dark

Jack.

Solid, dependable, formidable Jack.

Jack could make her forget. Could wipe her mind clean with the barest touch of his hands.

Brooding, smoldering, _desirous_ Jack.

His eyes darken. She steps closer.

She touches him. Lures him. Asks him. Needs him.

“If you really want a roman soldier,” Her heart pounds with craving and she sways, her gaze drawn to his lips. “Then I’ll take it from here.”

He nods. Swallows. Nods.

The silence is thick, cloying, heavy with her unspoken plea and his silent acceptance.

One gaudy night, to banish the shadows. 

One gaudy night with _him_.

_Phryne wants._

  
  



	13. sailing on a sunbeam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> King Memses' Curse

221B the Esplanade is full to bursting with Phryne’s nearest and dearest.

They mingle comfortably, the doctor and the red-raggers, the young ward and the staid aunt. The Honourable Miss and the Detective Inspector.

The tentative strands that bind them, mostly through Phryne’s will alone, weave stronger.

They toast, they dance, they laugh.

Phryne finds Jack’s face in the crowd often, centering herself in the gravity of his steady gaze. 

It is not the bacchanalian affair one might expect of her, though champagne does flow freely.

So do camaraderie and good cheer.

Easy friendship. Complicated love. It’s a celebration, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My absolute gut instinct was to use the image of Phryne reaching for Jack at Janey's graveside. But I challenged myself to look for equally important moments. Just know - that handhold is one of the greatest moments of the series and it broke me not to write it.


End file.
